Boston, Mass. (WEEI/WGR 550) - Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery called for star winger David Pastrnak to step up after the team's Game 6 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
It took a while, but in the biggest moment, Pastrnak did just that.
Just under two minutes into overtime of Saturday night’s Game 7 at TD Garden, Pastrnak flew into the offensive zone with a full head of steam, won a race to a perfect indirect pass from defenseman Hampus Lindholm, and flipped a shot past Maple Leafs goalie Ilya Samsonov to lift the Bruins to a 2-1 win.
With the win, the Bruins avoided a repeat of last season, bouncing back from losses in Games 5 and 6 to finish off the Maple Leafs' in seven games for the fourth time in the last 12 years.
Boston will open the second round on Monday night in Florida against the Panthers.
After a scoreless first two periods, the Bruins’ defense cracked first 9:01 into the third. Brandon Carlo lost his footing in his own zone, leading to a turnover and an easy setup from Auston Matthews – back after missing the previous two games – to William Nylander to give the Leafs a 1-0 lead.
It felt like one goal may have been enough, given the way the game was going, but the Bruins made sure that wasn’t the case, with the answer coming from an unlikely source. A great response shift from the third line of James van Riemsdyk, Trent Frederic and Justin Brazeau eventually led to a chance for Lindholm, who stepped into the left circle and ripped a shot under the crossbar for his first postseason goal as a member of the Bruins.
Neither team could score the rest of the way in regulation, sending the series to its second overtime in the last three games, and the Bruins to their second Game 7 overtime in as many years.
Matthews’ return wasn’t even the most dramatic pregame news in this one.
Rumors began to surface about two hours before the game that Leafs goalie Joseph Woll – the catalyst for their turnaround in Games 5 and 6 – could miss the game. The rumors came to fruition, as Woll did not dress due to injury and ceded the net back to Ilya Samsonov. The injury may have happened on Morgan Geekie’s seemingly meaningless goal with one second left in Game 6.
Regardless of who was in net, the Bruins needed to get off to a much better start than they did in Games 5 and 6, and they did. They controlled play early on and ultimately outshot Toronto 11-8 in the first, easily surpassing their three total first-period shots over the previous two games.
The game hit the first intermission still scoreless, though. Samsonov was up to the challenge after struggling earlier in the series, and Jeremy Swayman continued to be rock solid in the Boston end, including making a big glove save on William Nylander on an odd-man rush that resulted from a Charlie McAvoy turnover.
The Bruins got the game’s first power play early in the second after James van Riemsdyk got taken down in front of the net by Timothy Liljegren, but they couldn’t get much of anything going and even turned the puck over in their own zone twice just trying to get their rush up ice started.
Right after Boston’s power play ended, the Maple Leafs went on the man advantage when Charlie Coyle crosschecked Max Domi. Toronto’s power play looked much more dangerous, which hasn’t been the case all series, as they landed five shots on net. Swayman continued to dominate, though, including making a point-blank save on Calle Jarnkrok.
The Bruins got another power play midway through the second, and again it nearly led to disaster. McAvoy committed another brutal turnover, throwing a pass right to a Leaf for an easy clear. Then David Pastrnak turned the puck over on an entry attempt, leading to a shorthanded breakaway for Connor Dewar and another massive bailout save by Swayman.